Parma educator has plan to upgrade city schools

By Denise Dick

Photo

Photo by: Lisa-Ann Ishihara

Dr. Christina Dinklocker

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The first of five finalists for the city schools’ superintendent position says the district’s academic program would be a priority for her if she were selected.

“Your test scores aren’t where they need to be,” said Christina Dinklocker, deputy superintendent of the Parma City School District.

Intertwined with academics is student behavior, she said. If students aren’t in school and not in their seats and paying attention when they are, it will affect academics, she said.

Roughly 40 people attended a community forum Monday to hear Dinklocker, who has a doctorate in education, talk about her background and answer questions. The session was at Choffin Career and Technical Center, and forums are scheduled with the other four finalists as well.

Wendy Webb, superintendent since 2004, is retiring at year’s end.

Anthony Catale, school-board president, said finalists were picked from a list of 31 applicants and recommended by a 25-member search committee.

The selection of a new superintendent is important not only for the children of Youngstown but for the future of the city, he said.

The Parma District celebrated an excellent rating on state report cards set for official release Friday, Dinklocker said.

“We were once where you are,” Dinklocker said. “We were in continuous improvement seven years ago — at the bottom of continuous improvement.”

Youngstown’s 2008-09 report card rated the district in academic emergency, the lowest rating.

Dinklocker, who lives in Hinckley, served as assistant superintendent at Cuyahoga Falls, Revere Local and Westlake city schools before going to Parma. That district includes about 12,700 students.

“School improvement is a recipe,” she said, adding that several ingredients go into the mix.

To improve the graduation rate, she surveyed students who left to find out why they left and where they went. They answered that school was boring, the time was inconvenient.

Dinklocker started a school later in the day, reinstated summer school, began a credit-recovery program and a virtual school.

To improve attendance, she formed an eight-member committee that analyzed when high absenteeism occurred by school, by day of the week, by grade level.

Then incentives were built in to try to entice children to school on those days including awards ceremonies and lunch-with-the-principal days.

To increase parent engagement, Dinklocker said she educates parents.

“We teach you how we teach your child,” she said. “The strategies are as good at the kitchen table as they are at a teacher’s desk.”

Dinklocker told those attending that she applied for the city schools position because she knows there’s work to be done and she likes “to roll up my sleeves.”

“If you were a district in excellent right now, I wouldn’t be standing here,” she said. “Why would I?”